Museums and the Web Florence 2014

I attended with SMartART in “Museums and the Web Florence (MWF2014)” 19-21 February 2014
Demo was in the Sala D’Arme – Wednesday 19 February 2014

At SMartART Demo Stand at Museums on the Web 2014 I presented our idea to museum directors, experts of museum learning and communication, museum and customers users.
On this occasion I got in touch with:

Dr. Margherita Sani She works at the Istituto Beni Culturali of the Region Emilia-Romagna, where she is in charge of international projects (museum education, lifelong learning and intercultural dialogue). She is coordinating the European funded Network Project “LEM – The Learning Museum” and has led the Grundtvig Multilateral Project “Lifelong Museum Learning”, the Learning Partnership “Museums tell Many Stories” and the Grundtvig Multilateral Project “MAP for ID – Museums as Places for Intercultural Dialogue”. Since 1996 she has organised the yearly European Museum Forum Workshop. She is member of ICOM (International Council of Museums), ICTOP (International Council for the Training of Personnel) and EMA (European Museum Academy). Since 2008 she has been on the executive board of NEMO – Network of European Museum Organisations. In 2012 she has entered the jury of the Children Museum Award.

Dr. Nancy Proctor, Co-Chair Museums and the Web, she is Deputy Director for Digital Experience at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Co-chair of Museums and the Web. Previously she headed up Mobile Strategy and Initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution (2010-2014), and New Media Initiatives at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum (2008-2010).

Museums and the Web Florence (MWF2014) is an international conference dedicated to the relationship between museums and places of culture on the one hand and the new paradigms of digital culture on the other: social media, mobile tours, augmented reality. It will be held in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy 19 to 21 February 2014, and is open to all professionals in the sector, both public and private. It is also open to all of those who are interested in issues related to communication, technologies, contemporary languages. To attend pleaseregister soon as spaces are limited. The theme for 2014 is Open Museums and Smartcities: Storytelling and Connected Culture: strategies, tools, best practices for connecting cultural heritage with the communities of the ‘smartcities’ of the future. We will discuss the new opportunities for mobile engagement in museums and within the spaces of the city. Our discussions will revolve around universal design, social inclusion, accessibility, augmented reality, social media, crowd sourcing, open content, digital collaboration and gamification.

MWF2014 is conceived by Stefania Chipa, Ilaria D’Uva, Laura Longo in collaboration with Museums and the Web.MWF2014 is organized by Musei Civici di Firenze in collaboration with the Fondazione per la Ricerca e l’Innovazione dell’Università di Firenze and PIN – Polo Universitario Città di Prato. The main sponsor is D’Uva Workshop.Why Florence?As an “open air museum” with a centuries-old tradition of technological and cultural innovation, Florence is an ideal setting for culture professionals to consider how new technologies help define contemporary experiences of and relationships to our languages, landscapes, and identities. Museums were sites of mass communication avant la lettre and today offer fertile ground for cultivating new relationships to cultural heritage and technology that reach far beyond the museum’s walls to connect communities, cities and regions. Rich in museums, Florence aims to be a nexus for discussions about the future of “smart cities” and the tools and innovative approaches to storytelling that can help develop and connect their cultural resources.Why “Storytelling and Smart Cities”? Storytelling in smart cities uses powerful new tools to connect content and visitors. Digital technologies can help us define ecosystems that connect increasingly vast quantities of information and data available with the specificity of the many diverse needs of the “public”, old and new. The wealth of museums and enterprises currently engaged in the development of digital storytelling and experimentation promises new forms of access to cultural heritage. Museums and the Web Florence 2014 (MWF2014) fosters this collaboration between creative industries and cultural organizations with the aim of both preserving and growing the competitiveness of Europe, the region, and culture globally.